Banks Lobbying to Stem MiFID’s Spread Spark a U.S. Client Revolt

Wall Street brokerages are quietly lobbying regulators to ensure new European rules that will upend banks’ investment research operations don’t spread to America. But the campaign is causing tension with public pension funds and other large investors that are some of their biggest clients.

The dustup is playing out behind closed doors in Washington at the Securities and Exchange Commission, where brokers want the agency to make clear they can continue combining the cost of financial research and trading in one bill for U.S. customers -- the practice that is being banned in the European Union.